To Break or Not To Break

It all started with a call. I was on the way home in the wee hours of Saturday morning when a friend of mine called me to inform me that she was thinking of  joining the Jail Bharo campaign of team Anna and there was this site where we could register for the same.

Now , said friend is a huge advocate of the IAC movement and I am neither a supporter of Anna's movement nor an Anna acolyte/fan. On a personal front ( Which means I'm not trying to force my opinion on others and I'm entitled to have an opinion as I live in a democratic country) I have respect for Anna , respect for the social work that earned him a padma bhushan , but I disagree with his methods and I think he is showing signs of megalomania.

On the other hand though, I agree that the we live in a society where corruption is inevitable and the system in itself along with its cogs and consumers are corrupt. There needs to be  a change. A change towards the right path where we have a healthy system , with honest politicos and well oiled governance in place . Therefore I am a supporter of Anna's cause - the need for a New India , a Bright India. But if some one asks me if he is on the right path and if his methods are worthy enough to follow - I would answer with an emphatic 'No'.
Now coming back to JailBharo , I visited the registration site out of curiosity. The enrollments were listed by city and I found that there were 128 enrollments from my hometown and I am sure that the enrollments would swell before the D-Day which is the 30th of December. What has me concerned is that are these 128 aware of the consequences of courting arrest ? I don't think so. We Indians have a tendency to think with our hearts and more often than not , we make decisions spurred by emotions and live to regret it.

I shared my thoughts on a micro blogging site and apparently there were a couple of my fellow Indians who did not see eye to eye with me on the issue. We had a healthy debate and I must say they were polite enough - which took me by surprise. I have heard and seen stories of tweeps who are nasty enough to shred your online profile to pieces on disagreements over such little issues , like a favorite actor or show. These guys were very very polite and we ended the online conversation on an amicable note . During the course of a discussion , a person asked me why I thought that Jail Bharo was unlawful.

In my humble opinion,  even though the constitution permits peaceful protest , one would have to break the law to get arrested  which to me is a criminal act and blatant disrespect of the constitution. I was told that the protesters would be booked but would be let off by courts . To me it sounds contradicting.On one hand IAC calls the government and system corrupt and on the other hand reassurance is given that the protesters would be treated as per the law and in a just manner. considering the fact the government and its arms ( The Police force for instance) have been depicted as corrupt  by the IAC , what is the guarantee that they won't slap a harder IPC section on you or convict you. What is the guarantee that there will be honest policemen who would treat you as you are entitled to . Even if there are a few of them , what is the guarantee that they would be given the freedom to act in a just manner by the corrupt Babus? I voiced the same thoughts to my dear friend over the phone and she chided me of harboring paranoia , of not giving due respect and credit  to Anna who was a second Bapu. of course I credit Anna. But for him, Indians would largely be ignorant about lokpal. I also am not discouraging my fellow Indians who follow or want to follow Anna. I am merely expressing my concern towards what seems to me as a flawed method constructed on contradicting assumptions.Is his draft the strongest. I don't think so. I read a draft of Aruna Roy's and to me , it is the one that should be given serious thought and be debated upon.

Is Anna the second Bapu? I don't think so. Bapu might have thought of uplifting Dalits but he did not force vegetarianism on them. Was he stubborn ! hell yes but he did not advocate and stand by the "My way or the High Way policy" . Did he fight against consumption of alcohol? Yes! but he did not flog people who were fond of it. Anna might look benevolent like Bapu , but his methods lean towards extremism.
As of date Anna has stuck to his "My way or high way " policy. As far as I am aware he has not made an attempt to look into the other Lokpal drafts , not even Aruna's. However if Karamchand was alive , he'd have looked into the other drafts and advocated the best option or heck! he might have let the Government pass their bill and would have made observations on the flaws as his great grandson rightly said.
While I don't see Anna as a mentor and I don't agree to his methods, I want a new India too - Here's to  new India in 2012 ! Cheers

December Rain - I

It was the sound of the incessant rain that woke him up- that and the muezzin's call for prayer. He woke up and made his bed . It was too dark to know if the sun had risen , but he knew it was six in the morning or thereabouts and very soon it would be the time for role call. He walked to the other end of his spartan ten by ten cell and made a mark with the chalk he had somehow managed to smuggle in. It seemed like eternity since he had been living in the cell , which he had dubbed as Kaal Kothri but the marks on the wall would indicate that it had been 37 years and 3 months . He  had entered the premises as a strapping 30 year old army major but  now wondered how he looked as a 67 year old . He knew that he had not put on weight , thanks to the physical routine in the camp but often wondered what time had done to his face ; whether there were wrinkles around his eyes , whether the cleft in his chin was still pronounced and so many other things , but sadly prisoners of war weren't allowed mirrors.

The Muezzin called out for the faithful to join the prayers and he snapped out of his thoughts. He had to get ready to tend to his flock - the other Indian POWs in the camp all junior to him in rank and age, captured during the 1971 war as he had been or during minor border skirmishes or espionage operations. He was their commanding officer and had to keep the spirit going in them , the spirit of returning home alive however contrary that might be to his belief. Strange was the ways of the armed forces . One was supposed to follow the discipline , decorum and chain of command even if one was in Pakistan , in a prisoner camp. He had remarked on the same to his commanding officer , Brigadier Purohit , during his initial days after capture , who had retorted back that Pakistan main Kya , Narak main bhi protocol follow karna padega.

He came out of his stupor as he felt something on his leg , a scorpion actually. Must be the rains he thought. He moved the poor thing from his leg and stood up and went towards his bed . He retrieved his thread bare uniform from under his pillow and exchanged  his prison fatigues for his uniform. He remade his bed and sat on it waiting for the bugle to sound and the guard to open the cell.

Some where in the vicinity , some one was playing a mehdi hassan ghazal . The song reminded him of  when he first met his wife . His memories took him back to Delhi in the winter of 1964.He was there to attend the wedding of Arjun Ranaut , his best friend from school days who incidentally was in his regiment too. They were in the terrace of Arjun's place playing Mehdi Hassan's ghazals on the gramophone , when it started raining all of a sudden . Rushing down from the terrace , he had banged into her in his hurry to escape the  rain . She had been irritated and asked him if he was blind , to which he had jocularly replied that she was not such a stunning beauty to blind him. She gave him a sarcastic smile and told him that beauty lied in the eyes of the beholder and people like her had an inner beauty which was not visible to shallow men like him. Before he could reply to the retort he  heard Arjun shouting for him and went down admiring her wit.

Later , he came to know that she was a relative of Arjun - his cousin to be exact. As hours passed by his gaze was drawn frequently to her as she took part in the ceremonies involving the groom's sisters. She was not a striking beauty , but somehow she became the most beautiful woman in the world for him within a day . He was irrevocably in love with her by the next day , yet it was a week later that he came to even know her name. Her name was Shagun - Shagun Randhawa. He was brought back to the earth as he heard his cell door creak open.

He was a bit confused as he had not heard the bugle which signaled daybreak at the camp . The orderly who looked at his confused expression replied that it would take another fifteen minutes for the bugle to sound. He had unlocked the door as Major Khurram wanted to meet him. As the orderly left his thoughts went back to Shagun. He did not have a chance to confess his feelings to Shagun at Arjun's wedding and it had been a year and a half before he could meet her again - this time at Dehradoon at a party hosted by one of the army wives within the cantonment. He had been waiting to catch her alone , when to his surprise she walked towards where he was standing with a small smile on her face as Mehdi Hassan crooned in the background over the gramophone.

                " Din ba din badti gayi , us husn ki raanaayiyaan
                  Pehle gul , phir gulbadan , phir gul badama ho gaye "

She introduced herself and shook his hand , reminding him of how they had met during Arjun's wedding. It took a minute for him to gather his wits and obvious to the fact that she was waiting for him to match her gesture , he gulped once and then said " Hi , I'm  Sukhdev ! Capt Sukhdev Singh Rathod "

He was jerked back to reality as he heard the sound of boots nearing his cell. The door creaked open and he turned back to see Major Khurram enter . " Major Rathod . I have news for you" said Khurram. Khurram's face was solemn and devoid of all emotions , therefore he was not really able to guess what kind of news he was going to bear to his comrades. He really hoped that they were not to be shifted elsewhere. The prisoner camp at Sialkot had been home to him for 37 years and he had become accustomed to his surroundings.

"Major Rathod! are you listening " asked Khurram , breaking his stream of thoughts. He got back to Khurram who then gave him the news

" We have got news from the command center that all Indian POWs are going to be repatriated in exchange for Pakistani POW's captured during the Kargil Conflict. Badhaai Ho Major . Your repatriation is scheduled in another week ".


         
                                                                                                   -To be continued

Trials of an Underdog...

The underdog has a very significant place in our everyday life. There is no other thing as hugely motivating as their triumph and that is the reason that any piece of literature or movie depicting the underdog's triumph has won accolades , awards and affection , Lagaan being a stellar example of the same .

Not all avenues are kind to the underdogs.When it comes to sports ,they have been defeated,nine times out of ten and that is why an upset / win by an underdog has always been special . In Cricket , the underdogs are given the tags of associate nations and Kenya is the name that first comes to mind when we speak about the triumph of the underdog. In a world cup campaign that took place in their backyard way back in 2003 , they were called rude names ( which included whipping boys and which alienated Sidhu from cricket commentary for years to come) and were expected to bow out pretty early into the tournament.Bow out they did , but in a spectacular fashion , in a semifinal against India. They gave a shock to most of the teams that took them lightly breaking certain egos and careers in the way until the Men in Blue brought the Masai Mara Express to halt.

Considering the fact the ICC has brought the Axe down on the associate nations for the 2015 world cup , nothing would have been better than the Kenyans defeating the Kiwis and thereby making a statement on behalf of the underdogs. Sadly it was not to be. It was a blink and miss game with the Kiwis walking away with most of the honors. On a sunny morning in Chennai , Kenya won the toss but it was the first and last thing that they did right on a day when almost everything went wrong for them. They looked like caricatures against the Kiwi bowling trio of Bennet , Southee and Oram who practiced their trade with considerable ease.

Coming to the Kiwi chase , it was more of a net practice than a world cup match . The David Vs Goliath match up ended tamely at the seventh over of the Kiwi chase , the Kenyans heaving a sigh , having come to the end of the nightmare finally.

Hero of the match : Southee was good , Oram better , but the man who won the laurels was a certain Hamish Bennet , who came into the match , replacing Kyle Mills. I loved the way he bowled and would love to see more of this man.

The Villain of the piece : If there is anyone I would call the antagonist , it would be the committee who designed the fixture. A match up between Kenya and another associate nation like Canada or Zimbabwe would have been a great morale booster for Kenya. Wonder what is the logic that goes behind designing the fixtures.

This might not have been the best of fixtures but it was really disturbing to see the stadium nearly empty. I agree no sane soul would pay an exorbitant amount for such games , but the least thing that the ICC can do is allow free entry to students so that they can learn to enjoy the game while the teams would have an audience to applaud their effort.

There's another match happening right now between Srilanka and Canada and hopefully it will be an interesting game , considering the trouble Canada gave England during the warm-ups.

Watch out this space for more on World Cup..
Ciao

The Taming of the Tigers

People in India are crazy about cricket. They root for their team like zealots but their love for the game transcends beyond that. I've known people following cricket matches played between countries other than India , religiously refreshing the browser windows of their famous cricket site  or by catching live coverage. An average Indian kid when asked to name his cricketing icons would go well back into the late 80s to name the greats and would be having an update on at least the top four test playing nations. Therefore it is not much of a surprise that the 2011 world cup in the subcontinent has been billed as the cup that counts. It has been a long wait for the tourney to start but what a start it has been.

India Vs Bangladesh , on an ordinary day could have been counted as a warm up match but today there was a lot of hype surrounding both the teams. It was the Bangla tigers who had sounded the death knell to India's world cup campaign in 2007 and a lot of Indians were a bit worried and unsettled due to the fact that our opening match was against them. Though they had been the traditional whipping boys , they had began winning matches consistently as seen in the recent series against the Kiwis. The fact that they had a couple of young talented cricketers added to the worry.

Therefore it was with a bit of anxiety that I had switched on my television to see India start their campaign , by losing the Toss and being put in to bat. The match started very well with Sehwag and Sachin looking in Good form and I was assured that we could see some fireworks going off today until the unfortunate amateurish mishap happened and Sachin walked off the dressing room having scored a paltry 28 due to Sehwag's wool gathering. I was angry with Sehwag ( like most Indians would have been ) but he made up for it in the most spectacular manner. I can wax eloquently on his footwork and shot selection for 2000 words and more but still end up not doing full justice in describing his innings. What an innings it was. Having decided to stick on to the crease , he played his shots judiciously and at one stage it looked like he would score well past his mentor's highest of 200. Yet he fell at 175 equaling Kapil's knock against the WI and made us realize that he too was human and it is in his nature to get fatigued.

Now that I have described my Hero it is time to go ahead and talk about the sidekicks. Virat Kohli played a beautiful innings and would have been praised to the rafters had it not been Viru's day.  He played so fluently , so effortlessly that I had to remind myself at times that this was his first world cup campaign. A century on World cup debut is a very impressive achievement even if it has been against the supposed Minnows . I guess I wouldn't be in the wrong to assume that this lad from Delhi is going to be a key part in our world cup campaign.

Harbhajan Singh. What can I say about this man. He wears his power and talent so lightly on his shoulders. It may have been Munaf Patel who was among wickets in today's game but we have to thank this man for today's victory. He came in when the tigers were cruising and almost singlehandedly brought the Bangla Juggernaut to halt along with Zaheer and Munaf.

Zaheer once again proved that he wasn't called the spearhead of Indian Bowling for nothing. He bowled really well and his economy rate which is the lowest among all Indian Bowlers testify how much of a miser this man is. when we talk of being miserly Munaf cannot be far behind. when Sreesanth looked , bowled and behaved like an overgrown orangutan , Munaf was a revelation . He adapted well to the condition and brought about a breakthrough every single time his captain brought him on.

At the moment India's cup overfloweth with joy and contentment but a win against England would further cement our position as the tournament favorites.

Well what can we say about Sreesanth. All that I can say is I had great fun at his expense in social platforms - especially in twitter. It certainly looked like he turned up on the field wearing the wrong uniform. A word of caution / advice to you dude : It is not enough if you have the attitude of a pace bowler. You should have talent and dedication to go along with it. If you want people to start respecting you as a bowler , you better roll your sleeves up and start contributing to the actual cricket.

Before I sign off for the day , I can't help but mention this

Shakib , Rubel , Imrul and Tamim Take a Bow. You were really good just not good enough to win the match for your country.

Well I'll be back tomorrow to talk about Newzealand , Srilanka , Kenya and Canada...
See ya later guys!!!!!!!

Chatter... Chatter

Its been a couple of weeks since I've been away from my beloved blog. It is not a case of neglect or terminal illness or the dozen myriad reasons that I would love to cook up to explain my absence , it is simply the common illness that plagues all the wannabe writers like me - writer's block , and a severe case of writer's block at that.

For the past couple of weeks , I've had one great idea after the other , only to discover that the words wouldn't flow when I open my blog and start typing out . The hours became days and days became weeks until I hit upon something I wanted to write about at about 12:00 am in the morning , when I was sipping a cup of chai , with KK crooning O'Mama into my ears via my current boyfriend - my I pod. Considering the fact that Valentine's day has just passed by and I haven't yet tried my hand at a mushy post extolling the virtue of that hallowed day which generates a lot of revenue for all those corporate houses that promote eternal undying filmy love stories , and taking into consideration the fact that I do not possess a single mushy bone in my body , I decided against a post on valentine's day ,not wanting to tarnish all those sweet love stories floating around

That drove me into a frenzy ,as I had  to arrive at something else to write about and immediately an image of the cricket world cup flashed in front of my eyes. There are just two more days to go for the ultimate quest to begin and soon there would be a team which would be successful in the quest for that holy grail of Cricket .I hope to God that it won't be the Aussies who hold it again, the simple reason being , why spend so much of time , effort and resources scheduling a tournament if you are gonna hand over the cup to the same team for the 4th time. Better schedule a teleconference and be done with it. Neat Ain't it? Now that I don't want Australia to win, and knowing for sure that SA and England would not reach the finals , SA being the traditional chokers and team England having enough Protean players to be called South Africa A , I find it real hard to choose a team to root. I ponder over all the remaining teams and still don't have a clue as to whom I should back. Consider this as the craziness of a cricket freak or a sheer escapist act , I have decided to follow all test playing nations and root for all of them ( Errr.. may be not all of them ). I just hope that this edition of the world cup goes without a hitch and is as much as a hit as the PEPSI ads that are being beamed across the TV channels prior to the tournament.

This presented me another topic to ponder about : cricket advertisements. It is sometimes said that cricketers have a keen sense of humor and that is reflected in some of the ads that they star in. The ones that comes to my mind immediately are the PEPSI ads for the 2003 world cup starring bhajji and sachin respectively.. Google the ads and you would know what I am referring to. These ads are unique in a way that they bring out the sneaky side of the team India. That being said , the most recent cricket ad that had me smiling was the one starring Billy Bowden and his famed crooked finger signal to indicate that a wicket had fallen....

And that immediately triggered extreme happiness within my heart . Feelings of elation and success smothered me and I was completely clueless about the chemical locha taking place inside my head until I realised that I finally had a topic for a blog post...

" Billy Bowden ki Ungli Hamesha Tedhi Kyon Hai"...

PS : Satisfied with all that humongous effort , I hit the publish button on my chrome browser... I was tired but happily so , having discovered a topic to blog about....

Neglect!!!!!

The wait for a kiss,
A peck on the cheek , a pat on the head,
words of love forever unheard,
A group of four but an intimate three
Forever isolated , always the third wheel
Neither a servant , nor a beloved,
She was a daughter , cared for and unloved....

Torment of Tantalus

Date: sometime in April 1986
Location: The haven behind the pearly gates of Heaven

God: There! This lil life was tough creating .. let me save the changes and create the life.
He hits the save button on his brand new computer , sets the physical traits of the lil life , determines the sex ( female ) ,determines the date of delivery ( 10-01-1987) and then gets to the likes screen.. He sets various traits and then goes to the sweet tooth option when he nods off .. he wakes up quickly and hits the generate button and then we see a cute , cherubic , smart lil gal come out of God’s printer with a lollypop in her hand….

God is taken aback by her sweetness and places her on the conveyor belt before he could note that he had set the sweet tooth option to 200% and the conveyor belt moves towards earth …

Date: 10-01-1997
Time: 10:10 am
Location : A Hospital in Adayar

 The smart, cute , cherubic, all-knowing lil gal ( with that huge sweet tooth ) has travelled a long way from heaven to earth ( and also had tasted the different varieties of sweets and toffee that were on  display in the various intergalactic sweet shops )  drops out into the world and starts wailing at the top of her voice attracting the attention of the entire populace within a radius of 2Km ( Her mother always would tell her later that she was the sole baby who cried as if she had an embedded music system complete with the woofer system in her voice box) before she sees a person distributing sweets to celebrate her birth..

She thinks “So they have chocolates over here too… wonderful… I am going to love my journey here “and promptly goes to sleep.

Days pass by and so do months.. The little gal whom we shall call K has developed a real affinity for sweets and discovers new brands of chocolates and toffees as days pass by . She has chocolate flavored cereal for breakfast , chocolates for every other meal of the day . Her parents are not so much bothered by this trend as they think she’ll grow out of it.

Date: Some time in March 1988
Location: K’s house in Coimbatore
Situation: K’s parents want to tell her that she is going to have a lil sibling soon

K’s dad: So K what do you want? A baby brother or a baby sister?
K thinks hard, finishes her diary milk chocolate, licks her fingers clean as her parents look on eagerly and then after serious contemplation opens her mouth
K: No I don’t want either! Can I have a truckload full of diary milk chocolates instead?

K’s mom starts laughing out loud and her dad joins her and they continue their merrymaking without realizing how much of a choco-addict their daughter has become..

Years pass by. K has grown up into a cute little girl of ten and her chocolate obsession still continues..

Date: Sometime in June 1997
Location: At the friendly neighborhood dentist’s clinic

Dentist: Does you daughter eat chocolates
K’s Mom: Well that’s the only thing she eats..
Dentist: I am afraid that she has 11 of her teeth affected with cavities. We need to fill them up. I offer two types of fillings: Ceramic and white cement. Which one would you prefer?
K: Doc do you have a filling with chocolate flavor? I’m game for them!
Dentist: ?$%^%&^*&(*?
K’s Mom: ^&**#@@!

K undergoes the painful process of getting her teeth filled but that does not affect her obsession for chocolates anyway.

Time passes .. K is now a young woman of 23. She has outgrown most of her childhood traits and has become a software engineer with a reputed MNC. She has developed a liking towards books , music and gadgets but that does not diminish her love towards chocolates …

Date : 14-12-2010
K’s cousin : Hey I’m coming to India next week. What should I be getting you..
K : Chocolates would be capital
K’s Cousin : what chocolates exactly
K ( excitement spilling into her voice ) : Ghirardelli , Ferrero Rocher , Mars , Hersheys,*@$%^&^ , #$^& , $&^&* ………
K’s cousin cuts the call ,alarmed at the rate in which the list is growing..

Date : 12-24-2010
Time 1:00 am

K raids her cousin’ s fridge , grabs a bag of Hershey’s kisses and takes them to bed with her for comfort eating .. She falls asleep with her hand clutching the bag of the chocolates possessively.
The night passes calmly ….

Suddenly K hears a thud and wakes up to find herself at the converyor station where she had began her journey 23 years ago..

A good kindly woman tells her … never worry dear ..  people who come up for the last judgment are full of nerves. This way please .

 K has her retina scanned . The kindly attendant then attaches a dog tag to her wrist and says ” Judgment hall K - Third room on the right ” .

K then walks into the hall where she finds a Dumbledore like character reading a huge tome. The man beckons her close and the judge ment begins…

 K starts listening intently but gets bored after five minutes .

 She starts looking at the various portraits and other heavenly artifacts in the judgment hall wondering if she could get some chocolates when the kindly man pokes her shoulder. ” Well young woman. That was your judgment. In short though you are nothing short of a saint , you’ve committed the grave sin of not sharing your chocolates with friends and family and consuming around 1/4th of the world wide supply of chocolates. Therefore I sentence you to undergo the torment of Tantalus…

K finds herself neck deep in chocolate syrup and a chocolate tree with branches loaded with all kinds of chocolates. she bends down to taste the chocolate syrup but the syrup turns into water. She jumps up to reach the chocolates on the tree branch but the branch keeps moving higher .. K keeps jumping , jumping until…

K ! K ! Hey Somberi wake up .. Look at her .. she is not yet awake but she is still possessive about her chocolates K’s NRI cousin mused.

K wakes up .. rubs her eyes and still finds herself in her aunt’s home in Chennai..”Whew ! what a weird dream “ K thinks. Scared by the vision she just came out of K decides to make a new year resolution to abstain from chocolates for the greater good of mankind ( i.e. to assure herself that she will have enough chocolates when she passes from her current existence to the higher planes err. heaven )

PS : K is an acronym for Krithikaa who is self .
PPS : Though the post is a humorous take on K’s obsession for chocolate some of the incidents stated here may be true … or may not be so. I leave it to the discretion of the reader.